“Arms around my neck, baby.” He doesn’t give me time to reply before he lifts me in the air. My arms and legs lock around him, and he pushes inside me. “Fuck.” He buries his face in my neck as he slowly pushes in and out of my body. “It feels so… fuck. Condom.”
“I’m on the pill.”
“We’ll talk about why later. You sure?”
“Don’t you dare stop. My monthly cycle was all messed up after Kendrix. It helps to keep it regulated.”
“Never been bareback.”
“Never?”
He lifts his head to look at me. “No. The only one I ever would have considered it with was you, and we never did. We never discussed it.”
“Well, now we are. Since I’m going to be your wife and all.” I wink at him and he smirks. “Let’s just agree to toss them. This, it feels way too good.”
“Deal. Now, hold on tight and be quiet.” I barely have time to lock my hands behind his neck before his relentless thrusts have me immobilized. “C-Close. Can’t hold on,” he grunts.
“I-I’m close. I can’t be quiet. Oh, God.” I moan from how good it feels, and that we’re about to be discovered.
“Bite down on my shoulder.”
“I can’t bite you.”
“It’s either that or let them know I’m fucking you.” Holding me with one hand, he slides the other between us and swipes it over my clit. He walks us toward the wall, and he presses me against it.
“The paint.”
“It’s dry. We did this room first.” He unleashes… all I can do is hold on. Between his cock and his fingers, I have no option but to do as he says and bite down on his shoulder as my body convulses around him. “Fuck,” he grunts, and I feel him as he releases inside me.
“That,” I say, sucking in some much-needed air. “We should do more of that.”
He throws his head back in laughter as he pulls his body from mine. “Let’s get you cleaned up and we can do more of that when we get home tonight.”
“When can we move in? I meant what I said. If you’re okay with it, I’d like to live here. It’s paid for, and with my inheritance, we wouldn’t have to worry about the taxes eating our life savings away.”
“We can move in as soon as the floors are finished. Do we need to go to California to get your stuff? Kendrix’s stuff?”
“I’ll call Mo— Tillie.” I’m angry with her, and with my father. Calling her mom or mother right now, I just can’t do it. I have too much in my head that I need to work out in regard to her. “I need to talk to her anyway. Hopefully, she’ll have it shipped here. If not, I’ll go get the important things like photos and mementos from when Kendrix was a baby. Everything else is just clothes and can be replaced.”
“She’s still in town. Her rental car is still at the hotel.”
“Do you think your mom will watch Kendrix tonight? I can ask her to meet us here?”
“You know she will. Let’s get cleaned up and we can ask her.”
With a roll of paper towels, we do the best we can to clean up. The linens are all in totes so that the bathroom could be painted. We do okay with what we have. Back in the kitchen, the adults give us knowing looks, and my face heats, but I try to ignore it. He is the father of my daughter after all. That’s how she got here.
“Mom, do you think you can watch Kendrix for a little while tonight?”
“Oh, I spend the night.” Kendrix bounces on the balls of her feet. “Papaw, can we build another fort?’
“Sure, we can,” Gordon quickly agrees.
“How about we ask Uncle Ridge and Uncle Seth if Finley and Everly can come too? You girls can all have a sleepover,” Georgia suggests.
“Yeah!” Kendrix cheers.
“Sounds good to me,” Ridge comments.
“Me too,” Seth agrees.
“It’s settled then. Sleepover at our house,” Georgia tells our daughter.
The guys give Georgia and me a walk-through of the house, and I love it. There is nothing I would change. They did exactly as I wanted, only it’s better than I imagined it could be. I can’t seem to calm the giddy excitement that this is my home. Mine and Kent’s. This is where we’re going to raise our daughter and any future children. It feels right, all of it. The house, the man, the moment, it all feels right.Chapter 22Kent“Come on in,” I tell Tillie as I answer the door. She doesn’t sneer at me or try to scratch my eyes out, so I call that progress. “Laney’s in the kitchen.” She walks away from me and heads that way. I follow along behind her. Laney asked me to be here for this, and nothing Tillie says is going to keep me from doing just that.